Coban/Semuc Champay

Saturday morning, Ryan and I headed to Copan with our Guatemalan friend Laura on the nice air conditioned bus (which was freezing and the driver maniacal.) The 4 hour bus ride to Coban seemed to take longer due to my motion sickness, but we arrived without anyone throwing up. Once in Coban we proceeded to pick up our rental car equipped with our own personal chauffuer (Samuel), compliments of Laura. Thanks! After getting our ride, we went to eat some lunch at a nice restaurante that was playing one of the best compilations of music I have ever heard.

After lunch we went to buy some dulces tipicos downtown. Those coffee candies were out of this world!!! Our next stop was the main church in town located on top of a hill overlooking the entire city. We walked up the hill and looked around the church for a while and then headed to find a place to stay. We ended up going outside of Coban to some town i dont remember the name of and visiting one of Laura's friends (Rudy). We talked for the rest of the night en solo espanol which was quite difficult at times I must say, but it was a great time, none the less. We also became well informed about the cardamon seed which Rudy is very knowledgeable about. Did you know there are large amounts of cardamom in Guatemala? I didnt!! Anyway we saw Rudy's factory where they process the cardamom seeds and then ship them to companies. Rudy was kind enough to let us stay at his home for the night.

The next morning we woke up at the crack of dawn and began the long, winding, bumpy journey to Semuc Champay with our driver Samuel. That guy loved speeding up and slowing down, I tell you what! I barely made it to Semuc with everything still in my stomach. Once there we stopped and had breakfast with what looked like a bunch of German gypsies and hippy gringos who hadn't showered in a week. After breakfast we entered Semuc Champay park and walked around taking pictures and gazing at the beautiful scenery. We also took a hike up to the mirador in the park for a birds eye view of the surrounding area, which was incredible. This concluded our time in Semuc and we headed back to Coban stopping at some caves where we tried to pass as Guatemalans (unsuccessfully), in order to save a few Q's. 30 quetzales, wth!!! I look like a Juan Aguilera!! We arrived back in Coban in time to catch the bus back to Guate.

Anti-Bush Protest

At about 130pm on Monday afternoon Ryan and myself decided to go down to the national palace in central Guatemala City and observe what we thought was going to be a peaceful protest. There were about 500 people gathered around the side of the street to the national palace. There was a line of 20-30 police in riot gear blocking the road. In the distance the presidential motorcade could be seen with secret service agents in front of the main entrance. Snipers were visible on surrounding buildings as well.

When we first arrived not much was going on, people just chanting anti-bush phrases and walking around, but that soon changed. Rocks and eggs were being thrown at the riot police with insecticide cans being used as torches. There was a pinata of president Bush depicted as a devil that was up on a stick being carried around. This pinata provided the fuel for an increase in activity soon enough. Music started, firecrackers started going off, and the beating of the pinata ensued. The pinata was eventually lit on fire and thrown at the police. It was at this point that a group of protesters decided to pick up a piece of a large metal fence and hurl it at the riot police. As soon as this happened, the first can of tear gas was dispersed. Thinking this was going to be the extent of the gas, I started walking away without much worry. Bad idea!!!!!!

As i was walking through the crowd, canisters of tear gas started going off left and right, hitting people and flying under my feet. At this point my eyes were tearing up and i was choking. So I sprinted down the street making my way through the gas and trying not to run into people, cars, and cans of gas. After a few blocks i thought i would be okay but this is when the effects of the gas really hit me, I couldn't breathe very well, my eyes and nose were watering and burning like crazy, and my throat was on fire. I stopped to catch my breathe but soon had to continue running another 5 or 6 blocks to get away from the smoke. By now i had lost Ryan and decided to walk a few blocks in the other direction and return to the crowd to find him. Luckily I found him back near the crowd. So we were reunited with swollen, watery eyes and ready the get the hell out of dodge. We decided to walk to the other side of the palace and try and get a view of the president as he left, which we did. It was then a long walk home with anti-bush remarks being yelled at us the whole way. hhahahah FUERA BUSH!!!!!!!!!!

mi estomago

My stomach is in bad shape!! This was the start of what seemed to be a nasty enterovirus that put me out of commission for damn near a week. I think I dropped 5-10 pounds and lost some muscle mass, hahah.